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Concerning Court Annulling of Elections Results Partially in Three Districts in the Gaza Strip

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21 May 2005 |Reference 31/2005

Palestinian courts ruled that local elections, which took place on 5 May 2005, be repeated partially in three electoral districts- Rafah, Al Bureij and Beit Lahia.
On 17 May, 2005, the Khan Younis Preliminary Proceeding Court ruled that elections would be repeated in all of Rafah's Civil Registry polling centers in addition to three separate polling stations: Station # 2 in Center # 963, Station # 2 in Center # 977, and Station # 4 in Center # 970.
In addition, on 19 May 2005, the Gaza Preliminary Proceeding Court annulled the results of five polling stations in different polling centers in Beit Lahia: Station # 4 in Center # 740, Station # 2 in Center # 744, Station # 2 in Center # 749, Station # 2 in Center # 5,106, and Station # 5 in Center # 5,105.
Elections will be repeated in these stations within ten days.
Moreover, the Deir Al Balah Preliminary Proceeding Court annulled the results of two pooling centers and another three polling stations in Al Bureij: Station # 2 and 5 in Center # 0885, Station # 1 in Center # 0888, in addition to all of the stations in the centers # 5,100 and 5,102.
In light of these developments, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights submitted a letter to Mr.
Jamal Al Shubaki, President of the Higher Commission of Local Elections asking for information regarding the dates the Commission will assign for the election, which should be ten days after the court's ruling in accordance with the law.
The Center also asked for information concerning the categories of voters whom will be allowed to vote: whether it will be restricted to those who voted on 5 May 2005, or all the citizens enlisted in the above mentioned centers and stations registries.
It is worth mentioning that the Preliminary Proceeding Courts, which have the authority to rule in the cases, convened after lawyers representing Fatah Block petitioned to them.
Al Mezan commended the work done by the Commission to ensure best organization and maximum integrity and transparency of the elections processes.
In addition, the Center conveyed its thanks to them for the cooperation they showed with its staff during the previous elections.
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